Our all in one clinic at Coastal Plains Surgical Care is all about helping our clients reach their goals in lifestyle, healthy fitness, nutrition and skin care. If you follow our blog postings, you’ll see there’s a little something for everyone and something ready for every season. This fall season, we’re focusing on preparing your body for the coming months so you can feel more confident and look amazing. Whether or not you know how your skin reacts during the latter half of the year, we try to educate our clients on the particulars of skin care as we reach the fall and winter seasons.
Changes in Your Skin During Fall
Depending on what your normal skin type is during the rest of the year, you can be more or less prepared for changes in the weather. Fall can damage your skin if you don’t watch the changes and stay on top of them. For example, when the weather changes to cool, your skin can start to dry out and lose its radiance. To get started on your new fall skin care regimen, it’s important that you have one. Most people think about their skin as an afterthought and only when they begin to notice serious changes do they start taking care of it. As we age and expose our skin to external forces such as weather change and free radicals, the look of the skin, firmness, hydration levels and youthfulness can drastically become altered. The only way to hold off some of these changes is to treat them before they start. Try out these steps to target your fall skin below and let us know what other tips you recommend on our social media pages.
Tips for Your Fall Skin Care Regimen:
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- Wash and Tone Your Skin for Healthy Cells
This isn’t a suggestion; it’s a must. You need to wash and tone your skin every single day. Many people forget that washing your face is crucial to cell repair and vibrancy. For women, the problem starts when you leave your makeup on overnight. Think about all the bacteria and added oil mixed in with dirt particles sit on your skin overnight—it’s just plain bad for you. When you forget to cleanse your face at night and sleep on the same pillow over and over without washing in between, you’re creating a cesspool of bacteria. To make sure your skin is healthy, wash your face every night before you go to sleep, and your pillowcases at least once a week. Toning will help pick up other harmful particles and leftover makeup any face cleanser has left behind. We love toners for their healing properties as well since they kill bacteria on top of providing hydration and invigorating the skin. - Exfoliate Away Dead Skin Cells and Bacteria
Start fresh either once a week or every other day with a nourishing exfoliator. Depending on the type of skin you have and how it fares in drying fall weather, you may benefit from once a week exfoliation sessions to avoid over-drying of the skin. Exfoliation is the best way to strip the skin of any dead skin cells and bacteria right on the surface of your skin. Right after you’re done with exfoliating, it’s best to hydrate. - Hydrate to Keep Your Skin from Drying Out
Hydration, baby! The best skin care advice anyone could give you is to hydrate your skin. Especially if you’re not the type to get your recommended eight glasses of water a day. Your skin needs to stay hydrated to remain soft, smooth and stay away from developing blemishes. Make sure you see a specialist to evaluate your skin and recommend the best cosmeceutical products that will accomplish the right kind of hydration. If you’re prone to oily skin and need specific nutrients to help recovery hydration, water-based lotions are the best. Stay ahead of the weather by hydrating as the first method of protection from premature aging. - Protect Skin with SPF 15 or Higher
Whether or not the sun is bright that day, these harmful UV rays are everywhere. To keep your skin healthy and young, you have got to protect it against anything that will penetrate the layers and damage the dermis. These changes may not be revealed at first, but as you develop age spots and pigmentation or large pores, you’ll wish you did this a lot sooner. Only SPF 15 or higher will do any good, and it’s recommended that you lather up about ten minutes or so before you leave your house. If you apply sunscreen while you’re out and about, the UV rays will break it down before its had a chance to set into the skin.
- Wash and Tone Your Skin for Healthy Cells
- Replace Expired and Summer Specific Products
For those of you that haven’t paid much attention to your skin care product labels, have another look. On the bottom of each ingredient label, there is a tiny little container illustration with a number in it, followed by an M; this figure is the time, in months, your product is meant to last and continue to be effective. If it’s been longer than the 12M or 24M, that means it’s time to toss it and replace the product with something that fits your skin best this fall season.
To learn more about our skin care tips or to schedule a skin care analysis with one of our specialists, call Coastal Plains Surgical Care today at (361) 354-2832.